


The Hardest Part Is Letting Go

by rweoutofthewoods



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, dreamworks should have made me a writer for voltron, in this house we don't kill off our beautiful space princess, klance, voltron but better, voltron season 8
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-14 15:30:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17511170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rweoutofthewoods/pseuds/rweoutofthewoods
Summary: “I don’t know how to do this. Things weren’t supposed to go this way.” He shifted watching the stars that he’d dreamt of his entire life. “I got to touch the stars it was supposed to be everything.”“You touched the stars and now you have to come back down, I know it’s difficult, but the hardest part is letting go.”My "fixed" version of season 8. Basically how it should have gone.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So basically I was thinking about how disappointed I was in season 8 and how I would have written it if I’d been one of the writers.  
> SO this is my take on season 8.  
> I'm gonna say this stays true to what happened cannonly up to season 7 but most everything else is of my own design just loosely based on season 8.  
> I'll be honest I haven't completely finished plotting out the whole thing so I might change some things that happened in past seasons, but I don't know yet.  
> This is my first fanfic so constructive criticism would be wonderful.  
> Enjoy!

**Shiro**

“So that’s the story of how we found out that Keith’s an alien, crazy right?” Shiro chuckled, “I bet you’d love his mother, she’s quite a character, she doesn’t take any of Keith’s crap.”

“Shiro?” there was a soft rap on the door.

He turned around “hey Pidge, what’s up?”

“My dad needs you, something about final preparations? I don’t know.”

“Hm, okay, I’ll be right over.”

She nodded “so, how is he?” she asked gesturing to the figure lying in bed.

He looked over at the machine monitoring his heart rate. It beeped steadily just as it always did. He studied the silent form of a man, letting the beeping fill the silence for a moment.

“Well, the same I guess.”

Pidge placed a hand on his shoulder “At least he’s not getting worse.”

“Yeah,” he agreed with a sigh “but he’s not getting better either. I’m afraid that… I’m afraid he’ll die while I’m gone or I’ll die, and I’ll never get the chance to tell him everything I should have. He thinks I’m dead you know.”

“Yeah.” She paused awkwardly for a moment and then gave him a quick side hug.

It was so quick Shiro almost thought he’d imagined it. Pidge wasn’t normally one to show physical affection.

He smiled at her softly “I should go find your dad.”

“Yeah, right. I’ll see you later, don’t forget we’ve got a meeting which you’re supposed to be leading!”

“I know, I know, you really need to let that go, I only forgot once.”

She snorted “twice.”

“Okay, okay.”

He turned back once he reached the doorway to see that Pidge had taken the seat beside the bed. She had her feet pulled up to her chest and watched the sleeping figure, she seemed almost protective.

“You better not die while we’re gone.” She whispered threateningly.

Shiro shook his head and chuckled sadly before setting off to find Samuel Holt.

 

Shiro had first stumbled upon the hospital room when visiting the team after the last battle.  
He’d just made the rounds finishing with Lance who was surrounded by his family and looking mostly healed and ready to get out of there when on Shiro’s way back he spotted a woman.  
She was sitting at the bedside of a man covered almost head to toe with bandages.

He must have made some sort of noise because the woman turned around to face him.  
She had curly hair braided down her back, smooth dark skin, and glasses perched precariously on top of her head.  
He recognized her immediately.  
She didn’t seem to recognize him.

“May I help you?” she asked her voice strong and clear.  
“Oh, I um… I-I was just going.” He spit out suddenly a sputtering mess.

He’d made it only a few steps when she called “wait!”

He turned to face her. She stepped forward examining him.  
After a moment her eyes widened “Shiro?”

“Oh uh, yeah.”

“Sorry I didn’t recognize you.”

“No it’s fine, I look…” he coughed awkwardly “different”

She smiled slightly “yeah. Do you want to come in?”

He nodded nervously.  
She stepped back to let him in and watched him as he approached the man in the bed.

Only parts of him were visible, half of his face, one arm, his right hand.  
Shiro let out a choked sound as he collapsed in the seat beside his bed.

“Oh, Adam.” he whispered quietly.

“You broke his heart you know.”

He turned to face her “Julia, I’m--”

“No,” She said cutting him off “I understand why you left, I’m not blaming you. But he thought you were dead, we all did. Once he wakes up from his coma you are going to owe my son so many apologies.”

“Of course but…”

“But what?”

“I’m leaving next month what if he’s not awake by then?”

She moved to stand beside him “then you’ll apologize when you get back. Just don’t die in space and we’ll be fine.”

He laughed “Of course.”

His handheld buzzed in his pocket.

“You probably have stuff to do. You can visit tomorrow if you like.”

He nodded “I’ll see you around Julia.”

“Bye Shiro.”

 

It’s been nearly a month now since he’d found Adam in that hospital room. He still hadn’t shown any signs of waking.  
They were leaving tomorrow and now he took a deep breath trying to silence his fears. He would make it back, Adam would be fine and Shiro would get to tell him everything he wanted to.

 

**Lance**

To say Lance was distracted would be an understatement.  
It was their last day at The Garrison and everybody was rushing around in a state of panic.  
Well almost everybody, the paladins were used to the whole ‘going off to fight a universal war’ thing at this point.

So as Shiro said some serious stuff looking around the table lance was thinking about much more important things.  
Things like asking Allura out.

“This may be the last time we’re going to be here for a while so go be with the people you love.” Shiro said dismissing them.

“We’re you even paying attention?” Keith asked appearing at his side as they followed the stream of people out.

Once lance would have taken that as a personal offense and retorted back with something completely unrelated about Keith’s bad hair. Now he just shrugged “We already know everything Shiro was saying, the whole meeting was more for the benefit of people who have never fought space wars before.”

“Hm, yeah good point.”

“Of course it’s a good point, I made it.”

Keith rolled his eyes but there was a slight fondness to it. He opened his mouth to say something but before he could Hunk barged over.

“Hey, Keith. Do you mind if I borrow Lance for a moment?”

“Oh uh, no.”

“Okay, thanks!”

“See you later Mullet!” Lance said as Hunk dragged him away.

Keith lifted his hand in a small wave looking slightly perplexed as to what had just happened.

“Okay, so what’s up Hunk my bro?”

“I found your chance.”

“Hm?”

“Your chance, to ask Allura out, you said you were going to! Well look, there she is with Romelle.”

“Oh, I don’t know, I’m not quite ready to--”

“Go!” Hunk said pushing him towards Allura.

He stumbled through asking her out awkwardly as both Hunk and Romelle giggled at him.  
But by the time he was done spitting out his messy proposition she somehow agreed.

 

Now a few hours later he made his way up to the head of the black lion where Keith was sitting watching the sunset.

“You’re a hard guy to find.” Lace said settling himself beside Keith.

He opened his mouth to speak but paused taking in Lance’s outfit. “Uh, why are you wearing… that?” he asked gesturing to the bucket on his head.

“Coran,” Lance sighed “he made me because of my date with Allura.”

“Oh? A date?”

“Hm, yeah. Can’t believe she agreed to go out with me.”

“I can.”

“I- what?”

“I can, you’re a good guy Lance. You deserve the best, really. Anyone in their right mind would jump at a chance to go out with you.”

“Anyone?” Lance asked arching an eyebrow “Even Pidge?”

Keith snorted “Okay I take it back, not everyone, nobody else on the team would go out with you. But the rest of the universe is fair game.”

“So no one else on the team, not even you? I mean if Allura who’s been rejecting me for years agreed to go out with me then I could probably get you to go out with me too.” For some reason, his heart started to beat faster as he waited for Keith’s response.

“Well since you’re going out with Allura now I guess you’ll never find out.” Keith shrugged nonchalantly but for a moment an expression Lance couldn’t read passed over his features. “When do you have to leave for your date?” Keith asked changing the subject.

Lance let him, making a mental note to ask him what exactly he meant by that at a time when they weren’t about to go to war.

“We’re supposed to leave in an hour and a half, so I have some time. Can I watch the sun set with you for a while?”

Keith nodded not taking his eyes off the sky.

“Okay, thanks.” Lance moved closer until their arms touched. Keith tensed for a moment but then relaxed letting his head fall onto Lance’s shoulder.

Lance wasn’t sure when exactly they’d become close like this. When Keith had come back to Voltron Lance had been excited to have him back, Keith didn’t seem to feel the same way. He treated Lance coldly at first but somehow in the midst of everything he’d softened. Now they were friends, closer than they’d ever been before. The first night they’d been in the hospital Keith had snuck in to visit Lance. They’d talked about that moment when he was with Veronica and the Galra was attacking, Keith had told him when Lance’s coms had gone out Keith had thought he had died.

“But I didn’t,” He assured Keith “Red saved me.”

“I know,” Keith said softly, “asked her to.”

At that Lance pulled him into their first ever hug and Keith clung to him like a lifeline.

Since then they’d been a lot closer. Lance confessed how afraid he was to leave his family again. Keith talked about his time on the space whale. They joked and laughed and yeah, still argued a great deal but now it was comforting, familiar.

“You probably should go now,” Keith said nudging Lance and breaking him out of his thoughts.

Lance checked his watch “hm, yeah. I’ll go in fifteen minutes.”

“You’ll be late.”

“Nah, I’ll be fine.”

Keith turned to look at him “You’re nervous.”

It wasn’t a question, Lance nodded. “I know I’ve been into Allura forever but now that she’s finally agreed to go out with me I’m worried that I’m not good enough for her.”

“You’re more than good enough Lance. Allura knows that. And after a while, I’m sure you won’t feel that way. My mother told me once that when you find the person who’s right for you, they’ll make you feel like you’re worth the universe. I’m sure the anxiety will fade.”

‘Wow, thanks, Keith.”

“No problem. Don’t ever think that you’re no good enough, you’re Lance, the Lance that is strong and funny and keeps the team together, the Lance that always has my back. We’re gonna win this war and you’re going to have fun on your date. Now go before you’re late.”

“Okay, okay. Thanks man, really.”

Keith responded by pushing him. “Go.”

Lance obliged disappearing over the side of the lion with a wave.

He didn’t see Keith slump down in defeat and sigh sadly as soon as Lance was out of earshot.

 

 

“And the first thing she did when we met was insult my ears!” Lance told the table.

His family laughed and Veronica turned to Allura “Man do I like you Allura.”

She blushed “oh, thank you. It wasn’t meant to be insulting though, really. I’d just never seen human ears before. They are quite peculiar.”

“But you’re probably more used to them now huh?”

“Oh definitely, though they can still be a little off-putting at times. How do you hear out of them? They’re awfully small.”

“Well,” Rachel started launching into an explanation on human ears.

Lance rolled his eyes but Allura leaned forward eager to hear.

“How do you know all this?” She asked.

‘I’m a med student,” She said with a shrug.

“You’re learning to be a healer? What do you call them here? Nurses?”

“Close, I’m going to be a doctor.”

“Oh, and doctors are more important, similar to the head healers on Altea?”

“Um, I don’t know, but doctors are pretty important here. They do some different things than nurses.”

“Such as?”

Rachel spent the next fifteen minutes explaining the difference between nurses and doctors. The rest of dinner went much like that. They bantered and laughed. Allura asked Lance’s family questions and in turn, they asked her about Altea, Voltron and their travels in space.  
Things went smoothly except for a small awkward moment when Veronica asked Lance if Keith was single and Lance might have freaked out just a teensy bit. But really you couldn’t blame him, the thought of his sister with Keith was honestly revolting.

By the end of the night, everyone was happy, content and full. When it was time to leave there were hugs all around and promises to come see them off tomorrow.

Just as they were heading towards the door Veronica grabbed Lance’s wrist, “Hey can I talk to you real quick?”

“Sure what’s up?”

She turned to Allura “We’ll be right back.” Veronica said and then dragged him down the hall and into the spare bedroom shutting the door behind them.

“Veronica! What’s the deal?”

“I just want to make sure you know what you’re doing.”

“What are you talking about?”

"Allura. I mean she’s super nice and I really like her but I just thought…”

“What?” He demanded.

“I could have sworn you liked someone else.”

“What! Who?” He asked his voice rising.

“Shh, no one I guess. If you don’t already know who I’m talking about then you should probably figure that out on your own. I just want you to be careful, getting a girlfriend right before we go to war might not be the best idea.”

“Come on V, I’ve liked Allura for ages. And come on if I wait until after the war then there might not be any me to have a girlfriend or and girlfriend to be had…” he swallowed, “the point is who knows how much time we have! I don’t want to let something as stupid as a space war stop me from having the girl of my dreams. You know what they say, YOLO!”

Veronica groaned “You know Lance, I liked you better when you were missing.”

“Hey! “ He said aiming a kick at her.

She dodged and made a break for it flinging the door open and taking off down the hall as he chased after her.  
Their mamá scolded them in Spanish as they passed and Marco rolled his eyes.  
It was a scene right out of their childhood, he pushed away any dread he felt of never having this again and let himself enjoy it laughter bubbling in his chest as he finally caught and Veronica tackled her to the ground.

He was going to miss being home.

Later he took Allura to the park and watched as she brought it back to life.

She was truly amazing, way too good for him.  
He’d never been in love before but he was pretty sure this was what it felt like.  
So Lance told her he loved her.

He was pretty sure that was what this feeling was.  
He was in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next time: Keith's pov


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is entirely a Keith chapter but don't worry Lance stans I adore writing Lance so you'll get more from his pov next chapter.

[Keith]

Keith stood apart, watching as the other paladins chatted with their families and said goodbyes.

Hunk was hugging his parents tightly. Keith couldn’t stop the small smile that crept onto his face, Hunk was really one of the kindest sweetest people in the universe, Keith was so glad that he’d been reunited with his parents.

Pidge who’s family was accompanying them into space stood beside her father as he chatted with a man Keith had been surprised to learn the other day was Kinkade’s father. His father was short, squat, and balding, he looked nothing like Kinkade. But as he reached up to place a hand on Kinkade’s shoulder there was no mistaking the look of a proud father.

Lance and Veronica were surrounded by their family, a large group chattering in Spanish. Allura was there too, smiling softly hand in hand with Lance.  
Seems like their date had gone well. Keith ignored the pang in his chest at the thought.  
He was happy for them.

Even if it hurt him to see them together now. All he wanted was for Lance to be happy, and if Allura made him happy then Keith was okay with it.  
Mostly.

“Hey,” Shiro said softly appearing by Keith’s shoulder.

Keith acknowledged him with a nod.

Shiro followed Keith’s gaze to where Lance and Allura stood, “It’ll hurt less one day.”

“Wha-?” 

“I know, how you feel about him.”

“Was I that obvious?”

“Nah, I just know you.”

Keith didn’t reply choosing instead to focus on Hunk who had dragged Pidge over to talk to his parents.

“Did you go to see Adam?” Shiro asked his voice turning soft.

“Yeah,” Keith said heavily, “I didn’t see Julia though.”

“Well, I told her she could come to see us off, she really wanted to see you. I don’t know if she’s going to show up,” Shiro shrugged “but maybe.”

Keith nodded.

“Captain!” A voice called and Shiro turned.

“Sorry, duty calls, Watch out for Julia okay?” He took off leaving Keith alone.

He sighed.

“Hey! Keith! Mullet, get your ass over here!” Lance had broken off from his family and was beckoning Keith over.

“What?”

“You look emo over there by yourself, have you met my family yet? You need to!”

Keith sighed but made his way over. As soon as he reached Lance he grabbed Keith's hand and started dragging him over to where his family stood. At some point, Allura had made her way over to Romelle and now they talked somewhat somberly twenty feet away.

“Hey, you guys haven’t officially met Keith yet! Everybody this is Keith, Keith this is Everybody.”

“Hello Keith, it’s wonderful to meet you!” Lance’s mother said with a smile.

Keith greeted her awkwardly.

“Keith is the leader of Voltron,” Lance told his family proudly.

“Whoah!” One of the kids said, “So you get to boss Tío Lance around?”

Keith got down on her level and lowered his voice like he was telling a secret “All the time.”

She giggled.

“But, your tío is also my second in command, my right-hand man, so it’s not all bossing him around. Sometimes he has plans or he tells me what to do.”

“Because you’re a team? My football coach says that teams work together, even the team captain has to listen to her teammates.” 

“Exactly.”  
“Is Tío Lance a good teammate?” the little boy beside the girl asked.

Keith laughed “He wasn’t always, not to me at least, we fought a lot, but now he’s the best. I’d trust your tío with my life.”

Lance groaned “Aw jeez Mullet, you’re embarrassing me in front of my entire family.”

Keith straightened up turning to face Lance. He was surprised to see the fondness on Lance’s face, his lips were curved in a soft small smile.  
It was too overwhelming for Keith’s stupid brain to handle so he responded by punching Lance in the shoulder.

“Quiznak Mullet! What was that for?”

Keith just shrugged.

A moment later Hunk and Pidge approached them.

“My dad says we’re leaving soon, you should probably finish up your goodbyes,” Pidge said.

Keith let Lance respond turning away to survey their surroundings searching for a certain familiar face. Not seeing who he was searching for Keith sighed quietly.

“You okay Red?” Lance asked nudging him.

“Oh, uh yeah.”

Lance arched an eyebrow.

“Seriously Lance, I’m fine.”

“O-kaaay,” Lance said not looking quite convinced.  
A few minutes of small talk with Lance's family later a voice spoke behind him.

“Keith?”

He turned.  
And there she was.  
Looking just the same as she did years ago.  
He was suddenly assaulted by memories of different times.

Sitting on her couch when he was on winter break from The Garrison.  
Shiro and Adam had gone away for a few days and they hadn’t wanted Keith to be on his own so despite his protests that he was a teenager and was perfectly capable of staying by himself they sent him off to Julia's place.  
He’d been skeptical at first but he’d had so much fun that weekend.  
They watched Wheel Of Fortune and Jeopardy reruns and he ate so many cookies. She taught him about literature and got him into poetry, something that he’d never got before.  
He’d never had a grandmother but after that weekend she took up the role for him.  
It was the first of many days he spent with Julia.

He’d never missed her, he hadn’t let himself.

She and Adam both had reached out to him when they’d thought Shiro was dead.  
After being kicked out of the Garrison they’d taken care of him for a little while.

He still remembered how Adam had held him as he’d sobbed, rubbing comforting circles on Keith's back.  
But after a month the fighting started.

Adam and Shiro had broken up before he’d gone on the Kerberos mission.  
Shiro had been Keith’s foster parent, but Adam didn’t have any responsibility towards Keith besides the fact that he was his dead ex’s kid, it wasn’t long before Keith started to feel guilty.  
Adam hadn’t signed up for this, Keith was intruding on his life.

But even despite his guilt, Keith might have stayed with them, if it weren’t for the fact that they believed Shiro was dead.  
Every time he brought up a theory or idea about Shiro being alive or how to find him they shut him down.  
They wanted him to move on, go to school, have a good life, let it go.  
But Keith couldn’t.  
The last time he’d seen Adam he wished him goodnight ruffling his hair.  
Keith had wanted to hug Adam goodbye but he knew it would alarm him to the fact that something was wrong so he didn’t. Instead, he said goodnight retreated to the guest room and waited for Adam to fall asleep. When he did he snuck out and set off on his mission to get Shiro back.

He hadn’t imagined what it was like when Adam realized he was gone. He hadn’t imagined how it must have hurt him and Julia. But now years later face to face with Julia he didn’t have to imagine.  
He could see it in her eyes.

Keith stepped forward and so did she.  
He was distantly aware of Lance’s family and the other paladins watching curiously but he didn’t worry about it.

“Look at you”, she said, “you’re all grown up.”

He shrugged awkwardly “Uh… yeah?”

She laughed “And as eloquent as ever.”

At that, the tension eased out of him and he chuckled softly. “My mother says eloquence is something I could learn, I don’t doubt it’s something that some people could learn, don’t think I could though.”

“Hmm maybe not. I would give it a shot though, you never know.”

“Yeah… my mom said that too.”

She smiled and then she was stepping forward enveloping him in a hug.

Keith had never been a hugger, he could count on one hand the number of times he’d let Adam hug him, and Shiro only got away with hugs because he had a bad habit of nearly dying a lot.  
But he’d never had a problem with Julia’s hugs.  
Something about them was just comforting in such a way that it was impossible to feel awkward.

“I missed you, Keith.” She whispered into his shoulder.

He couldn’t say it but he knew she understood, He missed her too, even if he hadn’t admitted it to himself until that moment.

“Are you going to introduce me to your team?” She asked gesturing to the paladins standing behind him.

“Oh uh yeah. Everybody this is Julia Walker she’s my...” he trailed off looking to her.

“I’m Keith's grandmother…”

“Whoa, wait, how?” Lance asked.

“Well it’s a bit complicated, My son is Adam Walker, Adam used to be engaged to Shiro before he left for Kerberos.”

“Oh, okay,” Lance said with a nod.

“Yeah right, um so Julia this is Hunk Garret,” he said gesturing to him “he’s the yellow paladin and the nicest person you’ll ever meet.” Hunk blushed at that but Lance and Pidge both nodded seriously.

“That’s Katie Holt but we call her Pidge, she’s our team genius and the green paladin.” Pidge waved.

“Of course you know Shiro, he’s not technically a part of Voltron anymore but he’s always a part of our team. He’s around here somewhere.”

“Allura is the blue paladin and an Altean princess, she’s the one who got our team together, she can do Altean alchemy it’s pretty cool, like magic.” 

“And last is Lance Mclain, he’s the Red paladin, he used to pilot the blue lion and I used to pilot Red but then I took over Black from Shiro, Lance took Red and Allura got Blue. Lance is the right arm, he flirts with anything that moves, he’s annoying.”

“Hey!” Lance protested. His family laughed.

Keith ignored him turning to face the Mclain’s and continuing his speech “But he keeps our team together. He takes care of everyone. He makes sure Shiro isn’t too serious all the time, get’s Pidge to step away from her computer when she’s been working for seven hours straight, he takes care of Hunk when he’s too busy taking care of everyone else to worry about himself. He reassures Allura when the pressure gets to be too much, and he always comes into the training room and makes me rest when I’m too angry and training too hard.”

It was pretty obvious what he was doing but that didn’t stop it from helping.  
He’d noticed the stiffness in Lance’s family the way their eyes darted to the ship that was due to take Lance and Veronica away soon.  
It was hard for them to come to terms with the fact that the universe needed Lance, they’d only just got him back and they weren’t ready to let him go yet.  
But as Keith told them all the amazing ways that Lance helped the team they nodded.

His mother stepped forward taking Keith’s hand, “our Lance is going to take very good care of Voltron, he’s going to save the universe, and you’ll take care of him too?”

“Of course, I’d go to the end of the universe to keep Lance safe.”

He met Lance’s eyes over his mother's shoulder, Keith couldn’t translate the look on his face but his smile was soft and sweet.  
He shot him a small smile of his own and lance stuck his tongue out in response.  
Keith rolled his eyes.

Neither of them heard Veronica’s groan of exasperation.  
Trust her brother to pick the only person on earth who was just as much of an oblivious moron as he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry but I love the idea of Keith having a relationship with Adam and I love imagining Shiro, Adam, and Keith were a little family.
> 
> I'll be updating a few times over the next week just to get the story going and then I'm going to start updating weekly.  
> But look forward to another chapter either tomorrow or Friday.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I made a Spotify playlist for this fic, tell me in the comments if that's something you'd be interested in me sharing with you!  
> Also really just comment in general are great.
> 
> btw I literally made my account on here three days ago so I'm still trying to figure out how to work everything but things should be happening a little smoother from now on so yay!

**[Lance]**

Lance stood by one of the few windows on The Atlas.  
The view was one he was used to. The endless expanse of space. He couldn’t see earth anymore. The first few days he’d watched it slowly becoming smaller until it was nothing put a little dot in the distance.

He’d played the last goodbyes with his family over and over again in his head wondering if he was ever going to see them again.  
It had taken almost everything in him to walk away.  
Though thanks to Keith’s little speech it was easier than he’d expected for his family to let him go. His mamá had hugged him for a good ten minutes but eventually she let him follow his friends aboard The IGF-Atlas.  
The mood was heavy once they took off. Even Keith was subdued, his eyes far away. Probably thinking about his grandmother Julia. It had been weird to watch him hug her goodbye, Lance didn’t think he’d ever seen Keith hug anybody besides Shiro.

The whole situation made Lance’s head spin a little. He hadn’t even known Shiro was into guys much less that he’d been going to marry one once. In fact, now he was realizing he didn’t know much about Shiro’s past at all. Or Keith’s for that matter.  
Lance had always assumed Keith didn’t have anybody on Earth. He’d never seemed to miss it or get homesick. He took the whole fighting an intergalactic war thing in stride never even flinching. He was completely unfazed, it used to drive Lance crazy. He’d resented Keith for it, hated that he was fine being up in space while Lance was constantly homesick, waking up most nights from nightmares about losing his family.  
Lance knew now that Keith just had a one-track mind, he focused on the war and let everything else become secondary. He probably never even let himself think about Earth.

Lance lifted his head hearing footsteps behind him, he half expected it to be Keith but when he turned it was Allura who stood there.

“Lance? I had wondered where you’d gone.”

He smiled at the way she said his name, he’s always liked how she said it, all fancy, it made his name sound so much more exciting.

“Just watching.” He shrugged.

“May I join you?”

“Sure princess.”

She pulled him down to sit on the windowsill. Once they’d settled down she didn’t let go of his hand, looking at their hands twined together gave him a weird feeling in his stomach. So he leaned in and kissed her.

It was a nice he kiss Lance supposed. In all honesty, he didn’t have much to compare it to. He’d had plenty of girls interested in him but despite all his talk about being a lady’s man it never really went farther than harmless flirting.  
Most people could only stand so much of Lance at a time. He’d been told by countless girls that he was just ‘too intense’.  
But Allura liked him, so he pushed the thoughts away, no matter that he’d been her second choice next to Lotor.  
At that thought he must have reacted somehow because she pulled away. “Is everything okay?”

He pushed thoughts of Lotor from his head, he’d manipulated Allura. She was with Lance now so none of that mattered.

“I’m with the woman of my dreams, everything’s great.” he joked

She laughed softly and then leaned in hesitantly. He closed the distance catching her lips in his. She leaned into him and his hand found her waist.

Neither of them heard the approaching footsteps. It was only as the newcomer gave an awkward cough that they were alerted to the presence of somebody else.  
They broke apart quickly turning to see Keith standing there awkwardly.

Normally Lance had trouble catching any emotions on Keith’s face, he generally kept it calm and blank except when he was really angry.  
Now he stood there his shoulders hunched slightly, his mouth was twisted in clear distaste and his eyes darted to the window avoiding meeting Lance or Allura’s eyes.  
It was clear as day he was upset and uncomfortable.

Lance figured Keith wasn’t used to seeing things like kisses or displays of romantic affection. When he thought about he realized he’d never seen Keith express romantic interest in anybody. Maybe he was like Pidge who’d told him once that she didn’t really experience romantic attraction. She cared mostly about science and her computers, falling in love with somebody wasn’t something that was important to her at least not now. Lance could imagine Keith might be like that, he cared so much about the war everything else was secondary so it would make sense if love wasn’t something he was into.

“Is everything okay?” Allura asked.

Keith nodded briefly meeting her eye and then looking away “Um Shiro wants everybody in the control room.”

“Oh okay, let’s go!” Lance said grabbing Allura’s hand and shooting Keith a smile.

He didn’t return it, instead, he glared meanly and set off down the hall leaving Lance and Allura to catch up.  
Lance’s brow furrowed but he didn’t say anything, what was Keith’s deal?

 

Once they arrived at the control room Keith separated from them moving to stand next to Pidge.  
She glanced back at Lance and Allura and then touched Keith's elbow. He leaned down so she could whisper in his ear.  
Lance couldn’t hear what Pidge said but whatever it was must have helped because the pained expression melted off his face replaced by his usual blank look of indifference.

“Okay, everyone!” Shiro said with a clap. “We have our first mission today. We’re approaching a planet called Heligin. It’s people have been taken prisoner by the Galra. The mission is simple, take down the Galra in control of the base and free the civilians. Keith,” He turned to face the black paladin “You’ll need to take a paladin, find the commander of the base and take him down. Could you do that?”

Keith nodded “Sure.”

“Great, his name is Irux and according to my sources he’s a tough one so be careful.”

“Wait, Irux?” Keith asked his eyes widening ever so slightly.

“You know him?”

“We’ve met, when I was with the blade. Not a real pleasant guy. He’ll have the whole base fortified, it’ll be hard to get in.”

“Hm, what would you propose getting doing then?”

Keith bit his lip touching the scar on his face absentmindedly, “I’m assuming you had some way to get us in undetected?”

“Yeah, there’s an area, a big cave far enough away from the base where you wouldn’t be detected coming in, I figured you’d land there and sneak in under the cover of the forest, there’s a service hatch there.”

“It’s a good plan in theory but Irux is incredibly paranoid, he’ll have traps on the hatch, any hatches or entry points like that will probably have sensors and bombs planted to go off as soon as people are inside. We lost seven people on a mission to one of his bases when I was in BoM. So what I would propose doing,” He shot Shiro a wicked smile “Is going through the front door.”

Shiro raised his eyebrows “Okay? Go on.”

“As I said he’s paranoid, he has all the places that people would use to sneak in trapped and guarded. But the front door will only have a few dozen guards and definitely no bombs. He wouldn’t think anyone would be stupid enough to try to go right through the front where they’ll be spotted immediately.”

Lance noticed that a lot of people were nodding and throwing Keith impressed glances. Pride bubbled up in his chest, yeah, that was his Keith!  
Sure the plan was a little risky and relied a lot on the sheer skills of the people leading the assault, but with Keith, those were the best plans. He was good and Lance had no doubt that he’d be able to single-handedly take down every single one of the Galra in that base if he needed to.

“Sounds like a plan. But keep in mind you still need to get in undetected so you can’t take any more than two lions. The rest will have to be with their paladins, ready as back up if needed. Griffin and Kinkade will accompany you and one other paladin.”

“Lance,” Keith said without any hesitation. “Griffin and Kinkade are both skilled at hand to hand but we’ll need someone to cover us. Lance is the best sniper on this ship.”

Shiro nodded “That he is.” He shot Lance a quick smile and then turned to the rest of the group giving out assignments.

“Okay,” he said when he was done “We’ll arrive at that base in two vargas. You all know your jobs, go prepare as needed.”

 

 

Lance piloted his lion towards the surface of Heligin in awkward silence. Kinkade had gone with Keith and somehow Lance had got stuck with James. Lance did not particularly like James. He remembered all too well how James had treated Keith back when they were cadets. Everybody said he had matured and was now a good guy but Lance didn’t buy it.

“So James said breaking the silence “Is there a reason you don’t like me?”

“Who said I don’t like you?” Lance said like he hadn’t just been thinking about how he didn’t like James.

He snorted “I dunno the silent treatment is a pretty clear indicator.”

Lance just shrugged.

James leaned forward “Is it because of Keith?”

“Hphm.” Lance would have crossed his arms if he hadn’t been using them to pilot Red.

“So it is then? Because I am sorry for treating him the way I did. And I know it’s not an excuse but back then I was really insecure and had a lot of personal issues, I took it out on Keith. I was jealous, he was the best pilot, top of the class, Shiro adored him. And I mean he was a jerk back then, he never socialized or played nice yet everyone fell all over him. It made me angry so I bullied him.” James paused and took a breath.

“And I apologized to him last month, he forgave me. And it’s fine to be angry on his behalf but we’re cool now. He’s a good guy.”

“Yeah, he is.” Lance sighed “And I get it, being jealous of him. I didn’t like him back then either, though I never bullied him.”

“Wait really? You didn’t like him?”

Lance laughed “Ohh I hated him. I thought he was so perfect and annoying and he always beat me at everything. I worked so hard, I spent hours studying and practicing yet he always one-upped me. And after he got kicked out Iverson was never shy about reminding me that I only got promoted to fighter class because he got expelled.”

“Oof, that’s tough. But you and Keith became friends when you were part of the team together?”

“Nope, at first I claimed that he was my rival and turned everything into a competition, and of course, Keith could never turn down a challenge. The team had to constantly break up our fights and petty arguments. Once we on a mission and we were arguing over something stupid, can’t even remember what it was now but we were so pissed at each other and Keith hit me and so I pushed him off a cliff.”

‘You what!?” James yelled.

“Chill, it was a small cliff, though he did break his ankle and Shiro was so pissed. He yelled at us for an hour straight. After that he made us do a ton of teamwork exercises so we could learn to work together civilly. It slowly got better from there I guess, turned out we’re a really good team when we’re not injuring each other.”

“I cannot believe you pushed him off a cliff.” James snorted.

“He was being a jerk, plus he hit me first.”

“Right, so what exactly are you guys now?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, are you guys like… together?”

“Together? Oh my god! You mean like dating?!”

“Uh yeah.”

Lance could feel his face heating up as he shook his head “No, no way. Dating Keith? That’s disgusting. Ew. No. I have a girlfriend.”

“Oh sorry, you guys just seemed like you’re dating. Who’s your girlfriend?”

“Allura.” He said proudly.

“The princess? Wow, how’d you manage that?” James asked raising an eyebrow.

“Hey! I’ll have you know I’m perfectly capable of getting anyone I want.”

“Oh, I’m sure you could.” He laughed “So does that mean Keith’s single then?”

“Yeah why.”

“Well I mean he’s hot, I wouldn’t mind having that.”

“Wait! Do you like Keith?”

James shrugged “I don’t think I’d go as far as to say I like him, not yet at least, but I’m definitely interested.”

Lance groaned “First Veronica and now you? Why does everybody like Keith?”

James shrugged.

“Ugh, I hate Keith,” Lance whined.

 _“What did I do now?”_ Lance jumped as Keith’s face appeared on the screen in front of him.

“You have bad hair.”

 _“I really don’t get why you’re so offended by my hair.”_ He sighed

“It sucks.”

 _“Fuck you Lance.”_ he rolled his eyes. _“Well, we’re approaching Heligin so just follow me and please don’t turn our attempt to get onto the planet undetected into a scene.”_

“I? Lance Mclain make a scene? Never!”

Keith rolled his eyes again. Seriously if that boy rolled his eyes any more they were going to get stuck in the back of his head.

“Does this mean you’re not mad at me anymore?” Lance asked.

Keith who was about to cut the transmission paused _“What do you mean?”_

“Earlier when you came to get Allura and me, you seemed mad.”

_“I wasn’t mad.”_

“You wouldn’t talk to me the whole walk to the control room and you kept glaring at me every time I tried to start a conversation.”

 _“Ugh, no Lance I’m sorry I wasn’t mad at you.”_ he shook his head _“Look, we can talk later but right now we’ve got to focus on the mission, okay?”_

“Sure.” Lance nodded.

_“Okay, I’ll see you on Heligin.”_

The image of Keith blinked away and Lance was left with a feeling he couldn’t quite describe.

“Are you sure you’re not dating Keith?” James joked.

Lance pushed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: some action and klance teamwork.  
> The next chapter should be up either Sunday or Monday!
> 
> I came up with the name for the planet they're going to and the Galra commander guy the way all the pros do... key smashing until I got some letters in an order I liked.
> 
> (edit: I just realized what I was referring to as the 'control room' I should have been calling the bridge. It couldn't remember what it was called and I don't want to go in and fix it rn but now you know.)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm basically running on coffee and Grammarly right now so I apologize for any mistakes on this chapter.

**[Keith]**

The cave they were supposed to land in was as Shiro had said huge, unfortunately, their lions were also huge, so once Lance had landed Red Keith had to carefully maneuver his bigger lion in the spot in front of her. Somehow he managed without taking out the ceiling of the cave and burying them all alive.

He let out the breath he’d been holding as Black’s feet touched the ground without incident.

Kinkade whistled, “Wow you really are a good pilot.”

“I’m the leader of Voltron, did you think I’d be a bad one?”

He shook his head “No, I knew you were good, I remember from when we were cadets, you’ve just gotten even better.”

“Oh, uh, thanks.”

Kinkade flashed him something that was almost a smile and set off to join Lance and Griffin.

“You’ve done a shit parking job Mullet!” Lance said in greeting.

Keith rolled his eyes for the millionth time that day.

“Seriously! Red is all blocked in, she has no space! She gets claustrophobic you know! I bet you were one of those assholes who parked across three parking spots back home weren’t you?”

“She’ll be fine Lance.” Keith sighed

Lance scoffed “How would you know?”

“She was my lion first, remember?”

“Oh right… Well if we need our lions and Black blocks Red in I’m telling her to shoot fire at Black.”

“She wouldn’t, she respects me and Black.”

Lance stuck out his tongue and stalked off towards the entrance of the cave.

Keith shook his head but joined him as they set off into the woods Griffin and Kinkade trailing behind.

“Do you even know where we’re going?” Keith asked as Lance led them through the trees.

“Yeah, Shiro told us.”

“And you were paying attention?”

“Well uh not really, but I remember what he said.”

“How can you remember if you weren’t paying attention?”

Lance shrugged “I dunno, I’m good with directions, they stick in my head. Coordinates and stuff too.”

“If you get us lost I’m telling Shiro it was all your fault.”

“Fair enough.” Lance shot Keith a charming smile and pulled him into a headlock ruffling his hair.

He flipped Lance onto his back and he landed in the dirt with an “oof.”

Keith laughed Lance groaned “Yeah I should have expected that, damn I miss when you were half my size and it was harder for you to do that.” he said getting up and dusting himself off.

“I was never half your size! I was only two and a half inches shorter than you.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say Mullet.”

“I still kicked your ass.”

“You mean my ankles.”

Keith pushed him. Lance laughed as he stumbled and pushed Keith back.

They walked the rest of the way to the base in comfortable chatter.  
Kinkade joined the conversation occasionally offering a short sentence or a grunt. Giffin to Keith's surprise kept up with their banter fairly well adding jokes and witty remarks. He seemed to get along well with Lance which confused Keith a little because he’d been under the impression that Lance didn’t like Griffin.  
Though Keith wasn’t too surprised to learn he was wrong, despite all of Lance’s dramatics, there were very few people he genuinely disliked. Lotor, Haggar, the Galra, and Keith was pretty sure Lance didn’t like Iverson but that was it.  
Oh yeah, and Keith once upon a time. It used to make him so angry, that Lance genuinely liked a majority of the universe’s population but not him. That might have been the main reason why Keith indulged in Lance’s childish rivalry, because he wanted Lance to like him and the fact that he didn’t made Keith want to hurt Lance.  
And so Keith did, beating Lance at every challenge he purposed, making him feel bad. And even hurting him physically once, when they’d been arguing and his stupid smug smile made Keith’s blood boil, so he’d punched him.  
He would have felt bad if Lance hadn’t immediately responded by pushing him off a cliff.  
Lance always argued that it was so small it barely counted as a cliff. Keith thought he should try telling that to his ankle which still hurt sometimes where he’d broken it in the fall.

“Here we are, I told you I knew where I was going!”

Keith shushed him. Peering through the woods to the front door of the base in the distance. Lance had gotten them exactly where they needed to be, on the side of the building so they could creep their way over without being seen until they were close enough to take down the guards.

“Okay,” Keith said turning to the red paladin and two MFE pilots. “You know the plan, Griffin and Kinkade you’re with me, Lance cover us. Shiro says if things go wrong we retreat immediately, we have enough backup to come back later and launch a full assault if needed. But hopefully, it won’t come to that.”

Lance snorted “Are we supposed to believe that you’d actually retreat?”

“I will,” Keith said and Lance raised an eyebrow “if we have no other choice. If I have a chance to take down Irux though I’m taking it.”

“Well, you wouldn’t be Keith otherwise. When you said you’d met Irux before I take it there’s more to the story?”

“Doesn’t matter, let’s go.”

“Yes sir!” Lance said with a salute.

And then he was off moving to higher ground, Keith didn’t know how Lance did it but he always knew the exact perfect place he needed to be to cover everyone even without scoping the terrain out first. He just looked around found the spot and set up.

Keith waited. Once Lance was in position his voice sounded in Keith’s ear _“Okay, whenever you’re ready Mullet.”_

“Okay,” Keith said, “I’m opening up comms to The Atlas.”

 _“Keith, are you ready?”_ Shiro’s voice asked as soon as he’d connected.

“Yeah, everybody’s in position, we’re about to engage.”

_“Okay, we’ve got eyes on you. Back up is standing by if needed.”_

“Got it. We’re going in.”

 _“I’ll see you on the other side Red.”_ Lance’s voice said

Keith nodded even though he knew Lance couldn’t see him. “Be ready to meet us at the doors as soon as the first wave of guards is down.” he kept his voice level not expressing any of the affection he felt.

_“Sure thing.”_

And then they were off. Creeping down the side of the base.  
They stopped some feet away from the door watching the guards who were turned away from them locked in some sort of argument.

“I’m telling you I’d be the red paladin.” Guard one said.

“Nuh uh, you’re too much a coward to be the red paladin” Guard two shook his head “you’d be like the brown paladin.”

“That’s not a thing!”

“Sure it is, Voltron just keeps him locked away because they’re too ashamed of him. He’s the worst paladin, a useless pile of crap.”

Keith heard Lance snort in his ear but ignored him creeping forward.

Guard one gasped “Are you implying that I’m useless?”

Guard two never got a chance to reply because that was when Keith stabbed him.

“Hey!” Guard one protested raising his gun, Kinkade got him first a solid shot to the chest. He went down.

Unfortunately, twenty more guards rushed out in place of the two they’d just killed.  
Keith set to work taking out guard after guard. Lance wasn’t talking anymore but Keith knew he was there because every time a Galra would get a little to close to one of them or try to sneak up while they were distracted they’d suddenly fall with a hole in their head or chest or other places.  
One Galra got the best of Keith striking him down from behind and knocking his bayard out of his hand while he was busy fighting three others and Lance was helping Kinkade and Griffin who’d been cornered.  
The Galra raised his gun to shoot and Keith tried to subtly move his hand to where his BoM knife was concealed, but before he could retrieve it the Galra went down screaming in agony as somebody blew a hole in his crotch.

Keith couldn’t stop himself from laughing “Thanks Lance,”

_“My pleasure.”_

After that everything was the same adrenaline rushed blur it tended to become when Keith was killing things. But eventually, all the guards were down and for the moment no more were coming.

“Get your ass over here Lance we’re going in.”

_“Already on my way.”_

The three of them walked through the front door pausing so Lance could catch up he was only a few feet away when a straggler Galra attacked from behind.

Keith’s heart stopped and he opened his mouth to warn Lance but before Keith could say anything Lance turned and hit the Galra hard over the head with his gun. He buckled hitting the ground and Lance made his way through the door as though nothing had happened.

Keith just blinked at him. “What?” Lance asked

“Nothing,” he said shaking his head “Let’s go before they send out more soldiers.”

Lance leaned in and whispered sarcastically, “Do you think they know we’re here?”

“No, I think they missed the massacre at their front door,” James said.

Keith and Kinkade shared a look of exasperation at their teammates and they set off down the hallway with Lance in the lead shooting as they went.

It was almost unfair how they fought their way through the base. Most of the galra were down courtesy of Lance’s gun and annoyingly perfect aim before they could even react.  
Keith was beginning to think that Lance wasn’t just the best gunman and sniper on The Atlas but maybe one of the best in the universe. Keith wasn’t sure when exactly Lance had improved so much. Obviously, he’d always had good aim but his accuracy was better than it’d been just a month ago.

Between Lance’s gun, Keith's sword, and Griffin and Kinkade providing everything from lasers to a couple of punches to the stomach on Griffin’s part they made their way to the control room leaving a trail of bodies behind.

But when they got there it was empty.

“Where are they? Captian Shirogane said this was the safest space and where Irux would be right?” Griffin asked

“They might have moved when they heard us coming. We should keep going down the hall.” Keith said beckoning them back towards the door.

He was joined by Griffin and Kinkade but Lance was facing the other direction.

“Lance come on.”

“Just a minute, I think that machine over there is the one Pidge was talking about the other day, she really wanted it, I’m gonna grab it for her.” He stepped forward and a feeling of unease settled over Keith telling him something was off here.

“Lance!” Keith yelled but his warning was too late.

Lance stepped forward and the whole floor lit up. He jumped back as a wave of some sort of purple energy swept across the ground. As it moved under where Lance was standing he let out a scream of pain and fell his body twitching like he’d been electrocuted.

“LANCE!” Keith stepped forward reaching for Lance. Griffin and Kinkade stepped back.

But it didn’t matter.  
The floor under Keith's feet turned purple and pain shot through his body. He gasped hearing Griffin and Kinkade going down behind him. Keith was distantly aware of Shiro yelling in his ear asking what was going on before his comms sizzled out.  
Keith dragged himself forward towards Lance. Grabbing his wrist and searching clumsily for a pulse. When Keith found it he could have cried, but he was in too much pain so instead, he focused his last bit of strength on moving himself away from Lance so he wouldn’t be found clinging to him.  
Lance would make fun of him for it but Keith knew that if Irux knew how much Lance meant to Keith he’d use it against them.

He made it about five feet before the pain got to be too much.  
Keith’s head hit the ground and his consciousness ebbed away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: angst??
> 
> Sorry, it's a cliffhanger.  
> (Am I really sorry though?)
> 
> To make up for it the next chapter will be out tomorrow so you won't have to wait long.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, so warning: this chapter is pretty violent.
> 
> If you need to skip some of it you can ask me about what you missed in the comments and I'll tell you leaving out the details and the violent bits.

**[Pidge]**

Pidge didn’t know what was happening and she didn’t like it.  
She almost always had answers of some type so being up in space completely blind while lord knows what was happening to her friends was off-putting, to say the least.

Shiro was trying to contact the team on the ground but there was only static, he bit his lip clearly thinking.

“Bring us into the atmosphere, see if we can get a read on them once we’re closer.”

“Yes, captain.”

Veronica looked up to the screen where Lance’s communication channel stayed flat and silent, her brow furrowed in concern and Pidge felt a flash of pity for her. It was easy to forget that Veronica was Lance’s sister, she was sharp and sarcastic and serious, quite the opposite of Lance who couldn’t seem to take things seriously for the life of him. Most serious situations were disrupted by a dirty joke or inappropriate flirting on Lance’s part.  
And as much as it always annoyed Pidge she understood why he did it, he kept their spirits high, stopped them from working themselves into a state of despair.

Hunk rested his hand on Pidge’s shoulder making her jump slightly. “They’ll be fine.”

“Will they?” She whispered.

“Of course, you heard Keith when we left earth, he won’t let anything happen to Lance.”

“But what about Keith?”

Hunk paused momentarily stumped ‘Well… Keith can’t keep Lance safe if he’s dead! So they’ll all be fine. Keith wouldn’t die on Lance.”

She nodded “I just hate being up here completely blind, we have no idea what’s going on.”

“Whatever it is they can handle it.” Hunk smiled comfortingly “I’m sure they’re okay.”

**[Lance]**

Lance was not okay.

He was in pain, a lot of it.

He didn’t know where he was or what was going on, he wanted to see but he couldn’t make his eyes open, he couldn’t move at all actually.

  _Okay, okay,_ he thought to himself _don’t panic Lance you’re probably not paralyzed, it might be a side effect of the painful purple floor light. Hm, that’s a good name for it, or does purple painful floor light sound better? I would laugh right now if I could move. Oh! I want to tell Keith my name for it, he’ll hate it and tell me it’s a stupid name and I suck. He’s such a charmer like that._

Lance felt a smile creep onto his lips

_Hey! I can move._

He set to work trying to move various parts of his body until he succeeded in opening his eyes. He blinked a few times and then sat up carefully, he realized for the first time that people were talking.

“Oh good the blue one is awake, now we can get started.” A rough hard voice said.

Lance looked up to meet the eyes of a tall muscled Galra with a thick scar stretching from his chin to his forehead.

“Actually” Lance started his voice scratchy “I’m the red paladin. But it’s okay, an honest mistake, I know I am wearing blue.”

The Galra grabbed Lance’s face roughly, nails digging into the delicate skin he worked so hard to keep looking good.

“Shut up.” The Galra hissed shoving Lance backward into Keith who Lance hadn’t been aware was there until he crashed into him.  
Keith extracted himself from Lance without even sparing him a glance.  
He looked over at James and Kinkade, James shot him a look but Lance had only been friends with the guy for a few hours so he didn’t know him well enough to be able to decipher it.

“Get on your knees.” The Galra commanded

He was holding a gun and Lance was defenseless so with some effort as his hands were handcuffed behind his back he did what he was told. To his surprise so did Keith, without even shooting the man one of his trademark bitch glares.

“I have to admit you were quite impressive, showing up at my front door, fighting your way in. It was a clever plan, not one I was expecting. Unfortunately for you, I have all sorts of fail-safes. Some scoff at my cautious ways but in the end, it always gives me the upper hand.” He smiled wickedly “But still, I am impressed. Who’s plan was this? I’d really like to express my _awe_.” His eyes dragged over the four of them.

Keith opened his mouth to speak but Lance interrupted “It was me! My plan, yeah.”

Keith hissed “He’s lying trying to take credit, it was my idea.” He still wouldn’t look at Lance but he could feel the angry energy radiating off of him.

“Hm, do we have a liar in our midst?” The Galra who Lance now figured was Irux chuckled. “Doesn’t matter, I’m going to torture all of you eventually and the lovely red paladin has volunteered to go first.”

Two galra soldiers stepped forward and grabbed Lance’s arms dragging him forward the kneel in front of Irux.

“Now since you were unconscious earlier you missed some things. I’ll give you one chance to answer the question your friends refused to. Where is Voltron? Where are the rest of the paladins?”

“I don’t know.”

Irux took a small knife out of a sheath on his belt. He reached forward dragging it lightly over Lance's face tracing his cheekbone but not breaking the skin.

“You have such a pretty face red paladin, it’d be a shame if I had to ruin it.”

“Aw, thanks, I’d say the same about you but your face is honestly an eyesore.”

“Do you wish to speed up your death paladin?”

Lance looked him dead in the eye and then winked.

That was when Irux’s knife made the first cut.  
A red hot pain bloomed on Lance's cheek, he could feel the wetness as blood dripped from his face and onto his neck and armor.

“Hm, being confined to your face is quite boring,” Irux said starting another cut on Lance’s chin.

Irux dragged the knife down Lance's jaw and onto his neck.

He couldn’t stop the hiss of pain that escaped his lips.

“Where is Voltron?” Irux asked in a deadly whisper.

Lance responded by spitting in Irux’s face.

He stepped back in disgust anger rippling across his scarred features.

“Take his armor off.”

Two soldiers stepped forward roughly stripping off the pieces of his armor. As they did Lance got a quick look at his friends. Kinkade and James looked distraught, Keith’s face was blank but as Lance met his gaze he saw a fire crackling in Keith’s eyes and Lance knew that whatever they did to him next would be worth it because it was giving Keith the time he needed to come up with a way to get them out of here.  
Or at least that’s what Lance told himself, deep down he knew the real reason he offered himself up was to keep Keith from harm. Later he was surely going to be pissed at Lance for it, but at least Keith wasn’t the one up here. He was too important for that. Lance was replaceable, Keith was not.

The Galra soldiers finished stripping Lance of his armor and discarded them on the ground leaving him in the tight black suit he wore under.

Irux hummed in approval “Now this is _much_ better.” He made another cut on Lance’s chest, this one was much deeper and more vicious than the others.

He couldn’t stop himself from crying out. Keith made a quiet noise of distress at Lance’s pain and Irux looked up at him curiously.

“You don’t like that?” He asked Keith.

Keith didn’t say anything but Irux leaned forward taking Lance’s hand experimentally he bent his pinky back until it snapped.

“Shit,” Lance whispered weakly voice ragged.

Irux looked back up at Keith to gauge his reaction and then snapped another one of Lance’s fingers, and then another.

“Stop!” Keith yelled finally breaking “Please stop hurting him.”

“Tell me where to find Voltron and I’ll leave him alone.”

Keith shook his head.

“Oh, so you need more persuading?” Irux stepped forward and kicked Lance hard in the stomach.

He went flying across the room and when he hit the wall he heard something crunch. His chest hurt, actually scratch that, everything hurt. He tried to take a breath but it came out as a rattling gasp.

Irux moved slowly approaching him and as he did Lance hoped that he’d kill him now. He wasn’t proud of hoping it, he knew it was selfish of him, he was the only thing between his friends and Irux’s knife. But he was just in so much pain.  
Lance braced himself for another blow but it didn’t come. Instead, Keith’s voice cut through the haze.

“I can’t tell you where Voltron is! I don’t know but we came here in the black and red lions, I can take you to them. But only if you don’t hurt Lance anymore.”

Irux turned to survey Keith, “Okay, take me to them. But if you try anything funny I’ll blow your red paladin's brains out.” He waved his hand and the two soldiers lifted Lance between them, a third came behind them holding her blaster to the back of his head.

“No Keith, don’t. Just let them kill me.”

Keith met his eyes, angry determined “No, I made a promise.”

And so they set off making their way out of the base. Lance was basically dead weight stumbling and wheezing as they walked. His vision was spinning and his chest felt like it was about to explode. But he soldiered on. He didn’t know what Keith was doing but at the end of the day, Lance trusted Keith.

They reached the doors of the base but once they stepped outside Keith stopped.

“Why did you stop? Where are the lions? Remember anything funny and your little boyfriend dies.”

“Do you remember me?” Keith asked.

Irux paused confused “What do you mean?”

"I went on a mission with the Blade of Marmora to one of your bases, the one back on Elgar.” Irux’s eyes widened and Keith smirked: “I’m the one who gave you that scar.”

Irux’s eyes filled with rage and he turned to his soldiers “Kill him.” He said gesturing to Lance.

He felt a blaster pushed against the back of his skull and his eyes met Keith’s.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered.

Lance closed his eyes.

_BOOM_

His eyes flew open as the black and red lion landed in front of them shaking the ground. Irux fell Keith rushed forward grabbing his bayard from one of the soldiers who was distracted staring in awe at the lions in front of them.  
Keith moved lightning fast cutting the bounds around his and his friends' wrists and then taking out the three soldiers who had Lance. After that, he turned to Irux. Keith was moving so quickly Lance didn’t think Keith even had time to breathe before plunging his sword into Irux’s chest with no mercy.

Kinkade and James leaped into action grabbing their guns. Kinkade ran to help Keith who was facing off against a bunch of soldiers while James ran to Lance’s side. James handed Lance his bayard and he slung Lance's arm around James’s shoulder dragging him towards the red lion.  
It was slow going, James couldn’t shoot and hold up Lance at the same time.  
Keith seemed to see this and said something to Kinkade. He nodded and ran over to join them putting Lance’s other arm around his shoulder. Between James and Kinkade they made it to his lion.

“Can you pilot like this?” James asked.

“Red will help me,” Lance said weakly.

He turned his head to look at Keith who was still locked in battle. Their eyes met for a moment and Keith mouthed “Go!”

Lance shook his head but Keith glared at James and Kinkade “Go, that is an order!” Keith yelled his voice faint by the time it reached them.

James started forward and Kinkade followed keeping Lance up.

“No wait, we can’t leave him!”

“He’ll be fine Lance, plus he ranks, we don’t have a choice but to follow his orders.”

“No James please.”

James ignored Lance dragging him into the red lion and putting him in the pilot seat.

Red was in control, she took off of her own accord. If Lance had been in control he wouldn’t have left.

The last thing he saw before he passed out was Keith’s form slowly becoming nothing but a speck as Red flew higher.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next time: ??
> 
> I adore writing this story so expect another update tomorrow.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> did I say I was going to post another chapter last week?  
> yes.
> 
> Did I not post it?  
> Also yes.
> 
> Forgive me.

[Allura]

 

War Allura had learned, did strange things to people. She’d watched it change her father and the original paladins. She knew going in that her paladins would also succumb to changes. She knew that they wouldn’t stay the same innocent young ones they were when the blue lion first brought them to her.  
But it was different seeing it, reflecting on the changes.

Pidge had grown up. She’d gone into this with the singular goal of finding her brother and father, but along the way, she learned trust and love and found herself a second family in Team Voltron.

Hunk had learned courage. When they’d first started he was scared constantly, he was always anxious wanting to back out. But he never did. He stood strong and tall a point of stability for everyone. Hunk had shown Allura that true courage wasn’t lack of fear but instead facing and fighting your fears. He’d admitted to her once that he’d rather be cooking than fighting. But he stood his ground for the sake of the universe.

Keith had become a leader. Gone was the wild, hurt, angry and hot-headed teenager Allura had first met, he’d been replaced by someone who was mature and capable. She didn’t know what had happened during his time away but he’d changed in a way Allura hadn’t known he could. Of course, he’d never be the careful, stable leader Shiro had been, Keith was the former red paladin after all, he was rough around the edges and a little too reckless sometimes, but he was a good leader. Not that Allura ever doubted he would be, the black lion didn’t make mistakes when it came to choosing it’s paladins.  
Keith’s most remarkable change though was the way he’d softened ever so slightly. It was rare to see it but there were a few times when Allura had caught it. The way he smiled fondly at Pidge when she was going on about some machine or another, he looked upon her like a little sister. A firm hand on Hunk’s shoulder when he’d start to worry, playful teasing with Shiro, the proud look in his eyes when Allura won one of their sparring sessions. But Keith was the softest around Lance, small smiles across the room, eyes rolled, tongues stuck out in playful arguments. Keith would let Lance braid his hair when he got stressed, Lance would seek out Keith when things got tough and he would immediately stop whatever he was doing to comfort Lance.  
It was a relationship that was completely confusing and foreign to Allura and try as she might, she could never understand it. 

But out of all the paladins Lance was the one who’d changed the most. Some nights Allura would lay awake trying to remember when it had happened, how he’d drifted so far from the boy she’d first met with more life (and awful pickup lines) than anyone should have any right to. As annoying as he was back then she’d often marveled over how he seemed to bring the dusty castleship to life and the rest of Team Voltron along with it. It was always a comfort to walk down the halls and hear laughter coming from one room or another knowing that Lance was inside taking a little bit of the weight off her paladin’s shoulders.  
But somewhere along the lines that spark of life he carried had gone out. When she’d mentioned it to Coran once he told her that he thought it’d happened sometime after Keith left. Allura was racked by guilt because something had happened to take Lance’s light away and she’d been so caught up in Lotor she hadn’t even noticed until months later.  
She’d hoped after her first date with Lance that she could make up for it by putting the spark back, maybe it was foolish but she hoped the small pieces of happiness in their relationship could help him. But so far he was still dark and empty beneath the surface.

Now she stood in front of the Atlas’s healing pod watching his sleeping face. Allura wasn’t sure what exactly she’d felt when James and Ryan had stumbled out of Red holding a broken and bloody Lance between them. He was barely conscious and mostly incoherent but when Hunk picked him up taking him from the exhausted MFE pilots his started rambling. Most of it was nonsense, he kept saying something about Keith being an asshole and how Lance hates ‘his stupid mullet’ but as Hunk tried to soothe Lance he burst into tears all the fight went out of him and he whispered so quietly she almost missed it.

“I need him Hunk, I need him.”

“I know,” Hunk said as Lance’s eyes closed “I probably know better than you do.” Hunk cast Allura a quick guilty look that she didn’t understand and then set off taking his friend to the med bay.

While Lance was being taken care of Ryan and James explained quickly that Keith was still down there fighting. Shiro gasped in alarm and started to make orders to send someone down to help him but it wasn’t needed, moments later Black landed in the hangar meant for the lions and Keith stumbled out looking a little banged up but mostly okay.

He ignored the million questions that were shot his way instead he turned to James and asked “Lance?”

“Hunk took him to the med bay.”

Keith nodded and took off ignoring Shiro’s call of “Wait, Keith!”

Shiro shook his head but let him go ordering everyone to the bridge for debriefing.

On the bridge, James told the story of what’d happened Ryan adding a sentence or two when James would forget something.

And the whole story, well it was awful but as they told it Allura could see it clear as day. Lance stepping up, taking a beating for the team, it was what he did.

“And Irux? He’s dead?”

James nodded his face twisting into an almost humorous expression “He is very much dead, Keith killed him.”

Shiro nodded “No, I figured he wouldn’t leave without doing so, if not for the mission for Lance.” He turned to Veronica “Okay, Mclain comm our fleet on standby, tell them they can go in and free the enslaved Heligins. Pidge, Allura you’re on clean-up duty, go in and take care of any extra Galra hiding out, once I give you the all clear I was you to destroy the base. The place is too dangerous with all the traps to just leave there.”

After the base was destroyed and the civilians were freed Allura and Pidge headed back to the Atlas and over comms Pidge said softly:

“I hate how useless I felt up there while our friends were getting hurt. We didn’t even know what was happening.”

Allura was aware that it was a big deal for Pidge to be admitting this to her “I know, I didn’t like it either, but maybe there’s something you could do about it.”

“Huh, what do you mean?”

“Well you’re incredibly smart, maybe you could build something that would let us see what’s happening with teams while they’re away.”

“Like a camera?”

“Yes exactly like a camera. Those are the things that take pictures, correct?”

“Yeah, except this would take videos. There’d be a live feed broadcasted straight to The Atlas, we could attach hidden cameras into everybody’s suits! Oh! It would make debriefing so much easier too if everybody could just see exactly what happened! That’s a great idea Allura, thanks!” 

“You’re welcome.” Allura laughed slightly bemused.

When they got back to The Atlas Pidge immediately took off, no doubt to start working on her new project and Allura went to go visit Lance’s pod where she was now.

When she got there the med bay was empty except for Lance who was sleeping in the healing pod. She’d been watching him sleep deep in her thoughts when Shiro came in.

“Hey.” He said tiredly.

“Hello.”

“How is he?” He asked gesturing to Lance’s sleeping form.

Allura bit her lip “Healing it seems. They say he’ll be fine.”

“That’s good.” He said letting out a sigh of relief. “I was just talking to Keith, he was pretty shaken up, it seems Lance really took a beating.”

“Is Keith okay?”

“yeah, yeah, a little bruised, exhausted, but otherwise he’s fine. He wanted to be in here but I made him rest. I told him you’d probably be here keeping an eye on Lance but Keith made me come in here and check anyway.”

She laughed softly “Sounds like Keith.”

“Yeah, is it okay if I stay here for a while? I could use a break and we haven’t talked in a long time.”

“No, we haven’t, I know you’re the captain now and you’re busy but I missed our talks, please, stay.”

He nodded, “Why don’t we sit? I don’t think Lance is going anywhere.”

She nodded and followed his lead sinking down in front of the pod. “How has your relationship with Keith been? Last time we talked like this you said you thought he was keeping something from you.”

“Yeah, yeah, we’ve been you know, busy so I haven’t gotten a chance to confront him but I think I might have figured it out.”

“Really?” 

“Yeah, I think he might have a crush.”

“What is he crushing?” 

At that Shiro laughed, “Oh Princess, no a ‘crush’ is what humans call it when you start to have romantic feelings for someone.”

“Oh, that’s quite silly.”

“Honestly I agree.”

“So who does Keith have this crush on?”

“That’s the part that’s confusing me. I can’t think of anyone he’d like, he’s never been the romance type, but Adam always said I’m an oblivious disaster when it comes to love so maybe there’s something I’m missing. I mean you and Lance, that’s not something I saw coming.”

“To tell the truth neither did I.” She said tilting her head to watch Lance in the pod. “It just kind of happened, I’m not mad about it, I like being with Lance,” She paused “but sometimes I worry that I’ll never be able to give him as much love as he gives me.”

“You don’t like him back?” Shiro asked looking completely perplexed.

“No I do, I like him. I just don’t know if I’m capable of loving him as much as he loves me… but then again sometimes I’m not even sure if he loves me as much as he thinks he does.” 

“What do you mean?”

“Well Lance swears he’s in love with me and he definitely seems to believe it but sometimes I catch him with this smile on his face and he looks like he’s a million light years away, when I snap him back he always looks a little disappointed to see me there like I’m not who he’s expecting. I’m not sure who he’s thinking about but it’s not me. And I won’t say anything because I like being with him and he’s happy with me, I think we can make it work. But Lance is in love with someone else and I don’t think he even realizes it.”

Shiro opened his mouth to reply but then shut it his eyebrows raised. Allura spun to see what he was looking at.

“Hunk?” Shiro said.

“Uh hi! I was just coming to check on Lance but you two are here so I guess he’s fine.” Hunk turned to leave.

“Wait,” Allura called.

“Yeah?”

“Did you overhear our conversation?” 

“Um, yeah, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

“No it’s fine, actually you might be able to answer something for us.” She turned to Shiro raising an eyebrow. He nodded.

“Do you know who Lance is in love with?”

Hunk suddenly looked incredibly uncomfortable “Well you? I thought…”

“No he loves me I think he’s in love with someone else though. I thought you might know since you’re his best friend.”

“Um well… I can’t tell you that, I don’t think Lance even realizes it yet.” He rubbed the back of his neck “I’m sorry, maybe you should try to ask him about it once he’s awake.”

“Okay, I will, thank you Hunk.”

 

A week later Allura sat back in the med bay with Pidge who was sitting in the corner typing viciously.  
They’d come to an unspoken agreement to always have somebody in there so Lance wouldn’t wake up alone. For the past week, the paladins had all taken turns staying with him along with Veronica and even the five MFE pilots (most often Ryan and James) had stopped by.

Allura was talking with Shiro who’d just walked in when the pod beeped and started to open. Allura, Pidge, and Shiro shared a quick look and then they were rushing over.

Shiro caught Lance as the healing pod opened completely and he fell forward. He groaned clinging onto Shiro for support.

“Hey there Lance,” Shiro said softly.

“Shiro?” Lance asked weakly

“Yeah, why don’t we sit you down?” Shiro led Lance over to an examination table, Shiro helped him hoist himself up on it while Allura and Pidge stood to the side trying not to get in the way.

“How do you feel Lance?” Shiro asked.

“Dunno, kind of foggy I guess.” 

“Yeah side effect of the healing pod, you’re probably used to that by now though.”

“Yeah…” Lance shook his head and yawned sleepily. Then suddenly his head shot up panic clear on his face “Keith! Is Keith okay?”

“Keith’s fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes Lance, he got back a little while after you did, he was a little banged up but nothing serious,” Shiro said reassuringly.

“I-I want to see him.”

“You can see him in a bit, we should get a medic in here to give you a checkup first.”

“No.”

“Lance,” Shiro said in a kind but stern warning.

“I want to see him now.”

Allura and Pidge exchanged a slightly confused look.

“You can see him soon I promise but first--.”

“No!” Lance yelled cutting Shiro off “I want to see him right now! Why won’t you let me?”

A figure appeared in the doorway “What’s going on in here?”

“Hunk!”

“Lance! You’re awake!” Hunk ran forward crushing his best friend in a hug. “I was so worried about you man.”

“I’m okay,” Lance said momentarily forgetting his argument with Shiro

“Good, good. What was all that yelling about?”

Lance’s brow furrowed and his mood soured again “Shiro won’t let me see Keith!”

Shiro sighed “He needs a medic first.”

“I NEED TO SEE KEITH!”

Hunk jumped back in surprise “Whoa Lance buddy take a deep breath. Why don’t I go get Keith and on my way out I can send a medic in? They can do a little check while you’re waiting. Okay?”

Lance crossed his arms but nodded. Hunk squeezed his shoulder and then made his way out, a moment later a medic came in.

“I- sorry Shiro, I didn’t mean to yell,” Lance said as the medic listened to his heartbeat.

“No it’s fine Lance, I understand.”

Lance half smiled looking a little ashamed and then turned to Allura and Pidge. They talked quietly for a few minutes as the medic did the checkup. When she was done she told him he was perfectly healthy but warned him to take it easy then it was just the four of them again.  
Until a moment later Hunk entered with Keith not far behind. 

When Lance saw Keith he jumped up and walked towards him. They met each other halfway stopping in the middle of the room.

And then Lance was yelling again “You’re a complete asshole you know that? God! I hate you and your stupid mullet. You suck! Thinking you could play the hero and save my life? Nuh-uh! You could have died!”

“You would have died!” Keith yelled.

That was enough to stop Lance.

“Lance you were a mess, I couldn’t let you stay with me. I’m sorry but I don’t regret sending you back with Griffin and Kinkade. I made a promise! You were in no shape to fight and I can hold my own. You know that! You should trust me by now Lance.”

“I do trust you!”

“Good, then you can trust me when I say that I’m not going to get myself killed.”

“You can’t just say that! You never know what’s going to happen!”

“No, I know exactly what’s gonna happen. We’re going to win this war, you’ll be fine, and I’ll be fine. You’ll get to go back home to your family, the universe will be at peace, you can work on a farm or something!”

Lance snorted “A farm?”

“I-I dunno, it was the first thing that popped into my head. Point is the war will be over and you could do whatever you want. Anything you want.”

“You really believe that’s what’s gonna happen?”

“I do because I’m going to make it happen, whatever it takes.”

“No, not whatever it takes. Not your life.”

“Okay.”

“Okay, but you have to promise.”

“I promise.”

“Oh no, no, no. That isn’t a real promise. You have to pinky promise.”

“Uh… what?”

“Oh come on Mullet! Don’t tell me you’ve never pinky promised before.”

“Adam tried to make me pinky promise once, I dumped coffee on him and ran away.”

Lance snorted “Of course you did.” He held out his pinky “Come on.” 

Keith sighed but also held out his hooking their pinkies together. The stayed like that for a moment eyes locked and Allura suddenly felt like she was intruding on a private moment. 

Lance dragged Keith forward by their hooked pinkies and put his arms around him. He immediately responded by burying his head in Lance’s shoulder hands gripping his waist like it was the most natural thing in the universe.

Allura’s eyebrows shot up in surprise and she wasn’t the only one, Shiro looked a bit shocked. Keith did not like physical affection much, but with Lance, he looked completely comfortable.

They broke apart and Keith punched Lance in the shoulder.

“Hey!” 

“Do you have any idea what it was like to watch Irux torture you?” Keith asked angrily.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry Red. But I figured it was better me than you.”

Keith shook his head “No.”

Lance sighed and pulled him back in for another hug, “I didn’t call Red. Black and Red came but I didn’t call her Keith.”

“I know, I did.”

“I figured, but really, again? Honestly, I’m starting to think you’re trying to steal my lion from me.”

“Lance?”

“Yeah?”

“Shut the fuck up.”

Lance burst into a fit of laughter. It bubbled up and seemed to light the entire room. Lance’s laughter made Keith laugh too and soon they were both laughing so hard that it made Hunk laugh and then Pidge and even Shiro was chuckling softly though looking slightly bemused.

And as Hunk ran forward enveloping Keith and Lance in his arms with a shout of “Group Hug!” Allura realized that somehow Keith had brought out that light inside Lance she’d been missing so much.  
Pidge joined the group hug dragging Shiro and Allura into it too.

And it was as bright as the sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly don't like this chapter much I felt like everything was a little awkward and the dialogue was uncomfortable but I'm not really sure what I could do about it so I'm just posting it like this.
> 
> Thanks for reading <3


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